The Ministry Of Justice (MOJ) has revealed the closing date for Halton Magistrates Court in Runcorn.

A Her Majesty’s Courts And Tribunal Service (HMCTS) spokeswoman said it is due to shut on Friday, January 13.

Consultation was launched in July last year over the site’s closure along with multiple other locations in the ministry’s portfolio.

The Runcorn court’s demise was confirmed in February.

The MOF has said the closures are part of £700m ‘modernisation’ plans to ‘make justice more efficient’ but the move has attracted criticism with statistics cited indicating high rates of usage at the Halton site.

Cllr Dave Thompson, Halton Lea ward, said the decision was ‘shameful’ who said the town would lose 90 jobs.

He said the cost of hearing a case in Runcorn was £43 compared with the national average of £150.

HMCTS’s spokeswoman said the decision was ‘not taken lightly’ and the department was ‘progressing options for the future of the site’.

She said under the proposals, the workload will move to Warrington Magistrates’ Court to ‘facilitate a more flexible approach to the listing of cases and help meet customer and workload demands more effectively’.

The spokeswoman said maintaining ‘underused and dilapidated’ court buildings cost the taxpayer £500m a year but that some courts sit less than half the time, adding that closing courts in ‘poor quality buildings’ will raise £40m to re-invest in the justice system and save the public purse £27m, with technology at the forefront of the reforms, online solutions and telephone and video hearings to make access to justice easier and reduce dependence on the court estate.

She said: “We have a world-leading legal system and are investing over £1bn to reform and digitise our courts to deliver swifter justice.

“Closing underused and dilapidated court buildings will allow us to re-invest in the justice system and make the best use of technology.

“This will improve access to justice and improve the experience for all court users, in particular vulnerable victims and witnesses.”